CSS Are Apparently Tired Of Being Any Fun To Listen To

noah | July 2, 2008 9:30 am
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ARTIST: CSS TITLE: Donkey RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2008 WEB DEBUT: July 1, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: “Oh my God, I’m so messed up,” CSS lead singer Lovefoxxx blurts out on the third lyric of the second album by the Brazilian dance-punk outfit she leads. It wouldn’t be worth pointing out as a lyric if it didn’t color the entirety of Donkey, which sounds like the soundtrack to a scenester party attended solely by people who went from being penniless bomb-throwers to self-satisfied rulers way too fast, and didn’t realize that the indulgences (drinking, drugging, taking cell phone self-portraits, self-promoting) they’d become addicted to in the process made them everything they’d once poked fun at. The songs sound like rejected She Wants Revenge album filler that have been subsequently stuffed with their own filler, and one wonders why such a “fun” band has decided to become so, well, turgid.

There are some moments that break through–“Beautiful Song,” in particular, departs enough from the relentlessly grinding 4/4 beat that supplies Donkey‘s backbone to stand out, and it actually has a bubbling synth part–but it’s hard not to feel that Donkey works better as a cautionary tale than as something to press “play” on. Take heed, CSS fans: This is what happens when you get so stuck in “party” mode, with its flashbulbs and vomit-stained floors and indiscreet bumps and chances to meet Paris Hilton, that you’re completely oblivious to how everyone around you is having a positively shit time.

UPDATE: Apparently the leak is one of those “let’s make love and loop 30 seconds of each song endlessly” fake-outs, but I stand by this assessment, which was based off a promo CD that I got in the mail yesterday. (I have the IM logs to prove it, too.)

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